for the love of dreams
by Android k18
Summary: strange things are happening at the hinata and it all revolves around someone who dreams of meeting Motoko (slight marvel crossover)chapeter four is up READ AND REVIEW OR THE KITTY WILL EAT YOU!
1. the chase begins

For the love of dreams

By: Kara

Authors note: I don't own Love Hina; if I did it would be less of a fan service.

Also this story includes an original character that sort of crosses over with the Marvel universe so if you don't understand anything please contact me.

Chapter one: the chase begins

-

In the small tourist trap of Hinata just a few hours away from the capital of Japan the earthy smell of crushed autumn leaves permeated through the winds as a certain teenage swords mistress stepped off the train from school. Taking a deep breath of the seasoned air she left the quiet station and proceeded to the chaotic center of her life that was the Hinata Sou.

As she got closer to the aged hotel she sensed something off with the Small shopping district. Usually there was a drowsy/relaxed feel that seemed almost dreamlike all around the lazy Cafés shops and homes. But at that moment it seemed that there was some kind of… pressure over everything. Almost like something was trying to push its way through the air, but just barely being held back. She was so absorbed by the strange sensation that she didn't notice her friend and charge Kaola Su sneaking up on her.

'Heya Motoko!' Koala shouted, as she leaped onto her friends shoulders. 'What planet were ya on just then? Cause that was too easy!'

Motoko sighed 'I was here Kaola' she paused to shake her energetic friend of he shoulders 'I was just distracted by something that's all.'

'Really? What by?'

Motoko struggled to find the words to explain herself. She always had difficulties describing her abilities, and Kaola's language barrier made it even harder. 'Do you get a feeling that isn't normal? Like a storm is coming but you can't smell it? Or someone is watching you, willing you to do something but you can't see who's watching you and you don't know what they want? '

Kaola thought for a while, seeming quite serious as she did so before looking up cheerfully from her contemplation. 'Nope! Not at all!' she cried startling a couple of tourists. 'Why?' she asked 'is it bad? Are we in trouble? 'Cause that would be so cool!'

Motoko sighed again, she knew it was impossible to have a serious conversation with Kaola but just then, for a second, the crazy foreign girl had almost seemed normal. She watched in relief as Kaola went to bother Shinobu and turned her thoughts back to the strange presence.

She couldn't detect any evil in the strange heaviness, just a sense of longing; like it wanted something rather desperately. Motoko was reminded of spirits that wished to return to the land of the living. She had encountered a lot of them during her novitiate, usually the were quite benign and only wished to return to their loved ones, even so they could be stubborn and it was considered rude to merely shove them back to the spirit realm by force. She would have to convince whoever it was that it was better for everyone if they left the realm of the living completely. Motoko groaned at the thought, she was much better at punishing perverts like Keitaro than she was at _any_ form of negotiation. However if she was to inherit the gods cry school than she would have to perform exorcisms like this almost routinely, shrugging the responsibility to one of the schools more experienced exorcist just wasn't an option (no matter how much she wished it was). Resigning herself to the unpleasant task ahead Motoko began a mental checklist of everything she would need to do to get rid of the now rather irritating spirit.

-

'Damn it! Why can't you just talk to me? Usually you people can't shut up when you know someone's listening!' Things weren't going well for Motoko. She had made the usual benedictions and offerings that normally summoned displaced spirits to an exorcist, but whoever the spirit was they completely refused to communicate. Instead they would send emotions that got increasingly upset and confused. At this rate Motoko would have to send for an exorcist anyway. Not only was this an embarrassment to her, but the whole experience had been a waste of her time. Muttering under her breath she cleaned up all her exorcism paraphernalia, grabbed her bath things and headed downstairs. Her failed summoning had taken so much time that she had missed out on her sword practice. She needed something to work of the frustration and a bath was probably it.

When she had finished her scrub and got to the hot springs she found all the other girls were already there. Finding a comfortable rock that was far enough from Kaola and her water guns (the young inventor insisted that they were a more efficient way of soaking down and tried to prove it on everyone else at every possible opportunity) Motoko lay back in the springs and proceeded to drift off. She had almost become accustomed to the spirits presence, its feelings of confusion and fear had completely abated by then and the sense of longing that she picked up was now being tempered with a feeling of relief, peace and slight happiness.

'_Maybe they'll decided to leave of their own accord' _thought Motoko. '_If they did then I won't have to report my failure to big sister._' Motoko shuddered at the thought of her more talented elder sister. It wasn't like she hated Tsuroko (in fact she loved her sister deeply) but the idea of Tsuroko being displeased with her fuelled her nightmares. Oddly enough the spirit seemed too empathized with her.

_'**Now **you want to communicate' _she thought ruefully. Apparently the soak was taking effect as she was no longer irritated with the lost soul. Concentrating, she sent feelings of appreciation, goodwill and welcome in as many directions as she could manage hoping that they would eventually reach the spirit and maybe set up a basis of communication that would allow her to finally push the ghost of the mortal plain (gently of course). Apparently it was that single action that caused the chaos that happened next.

The first clue that something wasn't quite right was the feeling that whatever had been holding back the spirit had decided to yield and allow the spirit into the land of the living. The second clue was a strong sense of danger that provoked her to leap out of the hot springs. This proved to be prudent as she just missed being pulverized by someone who had apparently fell out of nowhere into the steaming pool where she had just been relaxing. Their landing caused a huge splash that soaked everyone completely rousing all the girls from their stupor to investigate their unexpected visitor. As they moved closer they realized that whoever they was they were really hairy and wearing a lot of purple.

'Well it isn't Keitaro' noted Naru 'he doesn't wear anything that gaudy.'

'Maybe we should turn them over' offered Fox 'you know, to see that their breathing and all?' before they could move to help their brightly dressed visitor, the visitor released some rather large bubbles and groaning, stood up painfully in the waist deep water.

And that's when all hell really broke loose.

Shinobu screamed in terror and ran for the exit while Fox and Kaola both summoned weapons out of nowhere (Fox had managed to pull out a rather formidable looking bottle of alcohol out of her bath towel while Kaola simply changed the settings on her water guns to suddenly change shape to something more solid looking that was releasing a rather ominous hum) to assail and chase after their now fleeing visitor. Naru however just stood in shock as Motoko moved to start putting her clothes back on.

'what was that thing Motoko?' asked Naru, only just coming out of her shock as Motoko completed binding her breasts 'it had a cats head and a, a _tail' _

'My guess is an animal daemon' grumbled Motoko as she helped Naru out of the springs and then threw her, her clothes

'They were quite prolific in medieval china but were all banished or killed by the monks of that time. One of them seems to have found a way back.'

'Are you going to kill it? I'd heard rumors-' Naru's sentence was cut of by a now rather irate Motoko

'Listen, whatever you heard doesn't matter right now. Just listen and do as I say and this may all turn out alright ok?' Naru merely nodded, unused to her younger friend being so forceful 'your going to finish getting changed then your going to chase after that thing, when you've caught up with Fox and Kaola I want you to tell them to lay back and _not_ attack it, if they do that it may kill them.' with that Motoko moved to turn around but was stopped by Naru's hand grabbing her gi.

'What are you going to do?' asked Naru

'I'm going to get my sword' answered Motoko with a look of cold anger 'and then, I'm not sure what I'm going to do.' with that she left, leaving Naru to get dressed. As she finished pulling her sweater on and started to follow the sounds of the chase, she could only pity the creature that would have to face Motoko and her wrath.

End chapter one

special points to whoever can tell me which comic I'm referencing from and a picture by me if they can tell me the make and model of the gun.

So what do you guys think? Please be brutal this is my first fanfic so I don't have a puffed up ego yet ;) anyway RR please!


	2. the hunter and the hunted

For the love of dreams

By: Kara

Authors note: I still don't own anything, so don't ask.

Chapter 2: the hunter and the hunted

"_Dammit dammit dammit!" _Motoko was having a very bad day. Whilst accidentally summoning an animal daemon into the realm of the living she had managed to put as much distance as humanly possible between herself and her sword. She had to let Kaola and Fox go after the infernal creature as she went tearing through the apartments to retrieve her weapon.

"_They're__**civilians!**"_she screamed at herself internally "_they're not prepared for this kind of situation!" _ Motoko rethought her last comment as she tore open her bedroom door. "_Ok Kaola can probably handle herself , but Fox and Naru are in mortal peril." _after snatching her weapon from its stand the swords mistress opened her window to see if she could track the pursuit from above. What she saw was disturbing to say the least.

Below her the Hinata girls were tearing their way through the gardens and pathways and above her the creature was tearing over the roof of the dorms. Both Kaola and Fox were still only clothed in their bath towels waving their respective weapons (and in Kaola's case firing indiscriminately in the beasts general direction). Whilst Naru, still sopping wet, was trying to get the other two to listen to her. The proof that her efforts were failing miserably came when Motoko started to make sense out of what Kaola and Fox were yelling.

"Dammit Kaola for a genius you sure have crappy aim!"

"Just you try running and aiming at something that's three stories above you! It ain't that easy!"

"Could you try stopping for a second? Motoko says that that thing is dangerous and that we should follow from a distance."

"Couldn't you make a laser gun with a target lock?" _That_ chilled Motoko's blood for a second. Fox was acting decidedly more bloodthirsty than usual. "_Is the daemon affecting them?_" some daemons were capable of affecting people on a base level. She may have to purify her friends when this was all over. She was roused from her musings by Kaola's reply.

"Trybuilding a gun that shoots superheated plasma in under three seconds and see if _you_ have time to build an automatic targeting system!"

"I guess you have a poi- DAMN ITS HEADED THE OTHER WAY!"

Motoko looked up now hearing the creatures' footprints above her head. The fury that had been held back when she was looking for her sword came flooding back to her. Fastening her sword in her belt she jumped onto the railing and using her Ki she boosted herself onto the roof. The daemon stopped running and skidded to a halt three meters from where the swords mistress landed (causing several roofing tiles to fall and nearly clock the poor dorm manager who had to come out to see who was unfortunate enough to arouse the ire of the infamous "Hinata Girls".)

"I don't appreciate being tricked" stated Motoko as she drew her sword. "Especially when it involves bringing an aberration into this realm of existence." she leveled her blade, pointing it at the man-beast in an obvious challenge "for deceiving me of your true intentions, manipulating me to provide the means to enter my world and for seriously _wasting my time _I'll have to make you pay!" Shifting her weight she set herself into an "attack" stance. If she could see her face at that moment she would have seen the most terrifying sight known to daemon-kind as the "righteous fury of the Aoma's" (also known as the "daemon glare" in the otaku circles)

"And personally, I think you should pay in blood." before she could charge however, she was rudely interrupted by the plaintive wails of the lecherous dorm manager Keitaro Urashima.

"Naru I'm sorry! How was I supposed to know that they'd be only in their towels?"

"That's no excuse you moron!"

Motoko heard a loud smack and looked down just in time to see Keitaro being launched out of the hotel grounds and into the lower stratosphere. The creature took obvious advantage of her distraction to run away. When Motoko tuned to face the creature once again it had already leapt off the roof and was making its way into the forests that surrounded the small hotel.

"_Dammit dammit, dammit!" _sheathing her sword Motoko once again relying on her Ki to boost her as she leapt from the roof and into the forest

"_Urashima!" _she swore "_when I'm done killing this daemon, you're next!_"

"_Damn daemon! Stand still and let me kill you!_" a half hour had passed since Motoko had challenged the daemon on the rooftop, and during that interlude she had been led on a merry chase through the surrounding forest. They had managed to cross a substantial amount of terrain during their hunt, and they had gone so deep into the woods, with so many changes in their direction that Motoko was unsure as to weather she would be able to find her way back home.

Not that it really mattered; the daemon still had to be killed first.

The problem was that the daemon was in no hurry to confront her, a couple of times she had managed to get close enough to encourage the creature to swipe at her, but it had always managed to break away and run before she could she could make a strike herself, and it was so damn _fast_. No matter what she did the daemon managed to always stay just out of reach using its superior speed to stay ahead of her and dodging unexpectedly off in other directions usually making Motoko pause in order to change her own direction whilst the daemon had already run out of sight. It was taking all of her abilities to keep up with the damn thing. The strange part was that she couldn't sense its Ki anymore, even when she was being hunted by the tur- "_Stop it!"_ she admonished herself internally _"Focus on the daemon at hand!"_ she swerved to miss a tree as she made another turn after the fiend. Continually drawing on her Ki energy to make up for her comparative lack of speed she managed to keep the creature in sight. _"So what it isn't like the last animal daemon you faced, they all have their differences. This one is just more annoying"_ taking her mind of her previous daemonic encounters and focused on the chase.

She had to give the creature credit; it gave a good chase. It never looked back instead it turned its ears back and listened to determine Motoko's location. It dodged at all the right times managing to avoid all of the attacks that she had sent against it and swerved of in unexpected directions, managing to increase its lead. Motoko had to rely on her Ki reserves in order to keep up with the beast. The chase seemed to be going on forever.

And then, for no reason, it stopped.

Curious but wary, Motoko held her sword ready in case the daemon tried to attack. Strangely all it did was stand there, panting heavily and bearing its teeth and sticking its tounge out panting, as it warily eyed her. They spent the next few minutes waiting for the other to move. There was no way that Motoko was going to leave herself open to the monster and so she waited.

For again what seemed like forever.

Until eventually, the creature moved. Not wanting to waste the opportunity she lunged her sword into the creature's belly, making sure to hit where the liver would probably be. Noting the darkness of the blood on her sword she assumed that she had guessed right and withdrew it to start cleaning. Unless the monster could heal itself its death was assured. What's more if human liver punctures were anything to go by its death would also be long and quite painful. The thought of the daemons suffering was making her giddy, or at least that's what she though before her legs gave way under her and she passed out.

Ok why no reviews people? I'm nice, I take criticism quite well and any opinion about this would be appreciated so why haven't you reviewed? Ah hell all I really want is confirmation that this isn't complete shite

buy tyhe way the gun that Kaola is using is called the BH-209 Plasgun, dubbed "plasma cannon" and made famous by being the weapon of choice for the main character of the popular sci-fi webcomic "schlock mercenary".

Read it at It's damn funny :)

Peace out: Kara


	3. welcome to my mind, please wipe your fee

For the love of dreams

Chapter three: welcome to my mind, please wipe your feet.

By androidK18

* * *

For the first time in a while Motoko felt at peace, she didn't know here she was or how she got there but it was calm. She was in a Zen garden enclosed by an old and rather impressive mansion. The sky was hidden by clouds heavy with the promise of rain so she couldn't determine her position by the sun, and there weren't any identifying features that could help her figure out where she was, but for some reason she didn't care. She felt at peace sitting on her rather large rock in her rather small garden and she really didn't want to leave.

After a period of time that seamed like both an eternity and instant her peace was finally disturbed by voices, some sounded panicked while others were angry, they all seamed to be talking about someone who was hurt. They were coming from inside the mansion so she couldn't really make out what they were saying, but from what she could tell the "someone" would probably die if they weren't helped soon. Then there came another voice, one that held a tone of both authority and supplication. It seemed to both ask and demand something at the same time, whatever they wanted though they didn't receive it.

Unless it was a resounding "NO" and to be kicked out into the garden…

Motoko looked at the newcomer to her garden. She was a female around her age but about ten or so centimetres shorter with extremely long mousy brown hair. She was obviously not a slave to fashion as she was dressed conservatively in tight black pants and a purple sweater, her long brown hair reached down to the small of her back. Her eyes were hazel and had a strange vacant and innocent expression to them. They were directed right at her.

'Did they kick you out too?' Motoko looked around to see if the girl was talking to someone else, but when she found no-one she thought it was best that she said something.

'Me? Uh, No… I think I've been here the whole time.'

'Really?' asked the girl 'they must be angry with you if they wouldn't let you in. don't worry though, they'll forgive you soon enough, then you'll get to see the rest of my house'

'Wait a second' asked Motoko confusedly 'if this is your house, why are they kicking you out of it?'

'Oh that?' the girl asked as she pointed to the door she just came out of 'they say that I'm dying. I asked if I could watch and they all said that it was for the best if I didn't. I guess they're right. They say I was stabbed and all that blood would make me kinda sick if I looked at it.'

'They say you're dying and you just believe them?'

'Why shouldn't I?' asked the girl. 'They're all my friends; if they weren't then they wouldn't be in my house. And a couple of them have even died before so they know what to expect'

She made the idea of people coming back from the dead sound so commonplace that Motoko felt too ignorant to ask how that was possible.

'So… how is it that you have been stabbed and are now dying when you're standing right there talking to me just fine?'

'Silly, this isn't my body' answered the girl smiling broadly. 'This is…' the girl paused trying to remember something. 'Ah! Now I remember! It's a "projection of my conscious/ subconscious mind compiled to form an avatar of myself for communication on a mental plane" or something like that, that's what my friend Anna says anyway.' There was something about the way that girl said that that reminded Motoko of Kaola.

'And what does that mean in laymen's terms?' asked Motoko, a little tired of being confused by this mysterious girl.

'well I guess the best way to put it is that its an illusion of me that's made up of who I am and what I think about myself projected into your mind so that we can communicate here.'

'You're a mental projection? How are you doing that?'

Before the girl could answer though, she was interrupted by a young man entering the garden. He was a little taller than Motoko his body seemed well built and slim under his loose pants and jumper. His blue-grey eyes were accented by his long blue hair which framed his effeminate face that showed an expression of concern as he shut the door behind him.

As soon as than the door was shut he was tackle-hugged by the girl, apparently she not only knew the boy but had a very close relationship with him as well.

'Marcus!' shouted the girl burying her face his chest 'I'm really glad you're here the others are being mean!'

'If being mean translates to kicking you out here than they were well within their rights. Why on earth would you want to watch yourself bleed?'

'And miss out on watching Seed do her thing? You know I wouldn't want to miss something like that!'

'Not unless watching would mess up Seed's healing abilities.' He reasoned pulling the girl away so that he could look into her eyes. 'If you started freaking out from all the blood you could trigger an asthma attack or something, and there's no way Seed could stop something like that and clear the toxins out of your blood at the same time. We all care about you too much to lose you like that' he pulled her into a hug 'I'm just sorry that I couldn't get here sooner.'

'And allow you to start World War II? I know those guys you have to work with, they'd take any excuse you give them to pull negotiations and start with the explosions!'

'Heh… you make my work sound so dangerous.' The boy called Marcus looked up with a smile on his face. Then he saw Motoko and the smile changed into a glare that conveyed a sense of utter loathing.

'What the hell is _she_ doing here?' he yelled pointing at Motoko and pulling the girl around so that she'd look in the right direction.

'What her? I'm not really sure actually I'm guessing a new friend. Hey that's kinda weird now that I think about it-'

'She's the girl who _stabbed_ you!' he exclaimed 'how in the name of hell could you be friends with _her_?' he started glaring at Motoko

'Really, you think so?' Motoko stiffened as the girl gave her a once over. 'She seems too innocent for that. I think it was an accident' Motoko flinched when the blue haired boy pointed at her accusingly; she only just noticed that he had pointed ears, fangs, and the ability to grow to three times her height.

'She called you into her world ( three stories above ground I might add) set her gun-nut friend and the psycho-drunk off after you, blamed you for the whole thing and then hunted you down and stabbed you before you had the chance to defend yourself!' he had now grown so large that he was now blocking out the sky. More disturbing was his eyes that were now come aflame, a strange visual representation for his anger.

With the fire came other changes. Blue hair grew all over his body his face lengthened to form a snout his ears pointing into triangles, his clothed disappeared while a tail grew between his legs. Somehow in his fury the boy had transformed into a giant wolf right in front of her,

Using his rage like a physical force he bored her into the ground. Feeling around she found out that she was without her sword and was therefore completely defenceless. Realizing this, she felt herself shrink from the boy/monster as she tried to think of a way to escape. She was preparing to run when the girl walked up to her and set herself between Motoko and her assailant.

'That's enough Marcus.' Motoko could not understand how the girl could be so calm before her angry friend.

'Everything's a little foggy in my head right now; I'm guessing nearly dying can be a little disorienting.'

'But- 'She raised her hand to stop her friend from continuing his interruption.

'BUT, I do remember bits of what happened.' She paused, Motoko couldn't see her face from behind but it looked like the girl was trying to remember something again 'I remember a girl with a sword…taller, more confident… she was angry with me… called me a daemon… said I tricked her.' Her voice was quiet as she struggled with her reluctant memory, the wolf …Marcus that was his name, shrunk back to a normal level, his anger deflating with his size.

'She said I was dangerous… She believed it too, you could tell when she chased me, she was cautious.' The girl turned to look at Motoko, her eyes intense yet still strangely vacant, as she seemed to look into her soul. 'If this small, scared little girl is the one who attacked me than I forgive her, she thought I was something I wasn't and really couldn't find out. If she hesitated and was wrong… if I was a daemon, I could have hurt her and her friends and it would be all her fault.' The girl turned back Marcus (who had turned back into a human with pointy teeth) 'She was doing what she thought she had to. It wasn't the right thing; she made a mistake, but since there aren't any serious consequences beyond right now I don't see any reason to get up her for all of this.

The blue haired boy stared at her incredulously for a few seconds before he broke into a grin.

'You had to go and defend the little girl from the big scary wolf didn't you?'

'Yup, can't be a real Australian if I don't cheer for the underdog!' Marcus smiled down at his friend before he pulled her into a hug.

'I'm glad you're opening up again.' He said 'just don't get killed ok?' he looked up at Motoko. 'Aoyama, if you let her get hurt I will personally hunt you down and open your guts to the world. Do you understand me?' Motoko nodded not willing to arouse the wolf in the strange boy.

'Seed!' shouted Marcus 'How's she doing?'

'_Better._' Said a voice that came from nowhere. '_I patched up her internal organs and purified her blood. I had some trouble with the new girl siphoning of Ki but I fixed that up, she's good to go now._' Marcus looked relieved at the news '_the new girl better go back to her own body if she wants to finish healing_' the voice continued '_and you better do it Marcus, everyone else is either busy or after her blood_'

'You want to do it?' Marcus asked the girl looking hopeful.

'Nuh-huh.' Replied the girl shaking her head 'I'm gonna have to explain this to her when she wakes up.' She finished thinking for a second she perked up 'and on the subject of waking up… Bye!' waving farewell the girl jumped into the air and jack-knifed into the ground. Instead of hurting herself however, she disappeared into the pavement.

'I hate it when she does that.' Muttered Marcus to himself, he spent a few seconds in reflection before snapping back to "reality". 'Well, lets get you back home before my fiancé starts poking you with pointy sticks shall we?' before Motoko could reply he leaned over and (to Motoko's surprise) picked her up. At first Motoko merely spluttered at the idea that a perverted male was manhandling her in such a way, but after a moment she realized that he was only holding her with one arm. And he wasn't doing it with any difficulty either. When she looked closer at herself she realized that if she were standing up she probably only reached up to his lower thigh trying not to freak out Motoko decided that it was probably best that she got some answers before she beat Marcus senseless.

'Did you just grow tall again, or did you shrink me?' asked Motoko trying to act casual. Unfortunately her question broke Marcus's concentration and caused him to stumble. Luckily he managed to right himself before they fell.

'Dammit! Sorry what did you say? I'm not very good at this so I wasn't listening, what?' The boy seemed distracted as he opened the door and carried her inside so Motoko decided not to punish him for his clumsiness instead she decided to look at the interior of the mansion.

It was a place of simple elegance, the furniture was comfortable looking and stylish without being flashy. The floors were bare showing the polished hardwood floorboards. There were assorted knick-knacks placed tastefully on the bookshelves and hall tables ranging statuettes of dragons to autumn leaves piled in a small bowel. There were pictures of landscapes hanging on several walls, when Motoko inspected them closer she noticed that they moved; disturbed she moved her attention to a full-length mirror that showed a smaller younger version of herself being carried by a rather preoccupied looking Marcus. The image in the mirror shocked her out of her inspection of the house and reminded her that she still didn't know why she was now so short.

'I just asked you how you caused the difference in our heights; usually I'm quite a bit taller than this.' Finely answered Motoko as she gestured to her reflection.

'Hmm? Oh I didn't do that you did.' He didn't even look at the mirror when he answered; instead he opened a door to a rather dimly lit and shoddily-built hallway

'How could I change my own size without my noticing?' asked Motoko incredulously

'Not that hard,' replied Marcus as he shut the door behind him and started groping forward 'We're in a mindscape, a representation of someone's conscious and subconscious mind shown in a way so that we can interact with it.' He paused to duck under a low-hanging beam. 'In places like this you're usually represented with an avatar, if you don't have any skill in manipulating your view of yourself than you usually end up looking like how you see yourself.'

'What does that have to do with me being reduced to this size?' asked Motoko

'Apparently you see yourself as a weak child.' Motoko thought about that, while it was true that she didn't think that highly of herself she couldn't believe that her opinion of herself was so low.

'Couldn't I just be a big fan of Tenju Tenje?' her question seemed to startle a laugh out of Marcus.

'Heh… well, yeah that too I suppose, Just don't do the whole "grow to big for your clothes" thing. I'm not sure who would kill me first: you or my fiancé.' The boy continued to chuckle as he set her down before a rather ornate door that seemed out of place in the ramshackle hallway.

'Is that the girl I just met? She didn't seem that violent to me.' Asked Motoko curiously, his reaction was rather amusing. First he froze completely still, his jaw hung between his knees and his eyes widened as the colour drained from his face. Than he completely changed as he broke out into a blush and started to babble

'Me and… engaged? I mean just… dating is so… it's like incest… Eww!' Motoko couldn't help but giggle at the wolf-boys antics. She stopped giggling when she realized something.

'Hey, what is that girls name anyway? You all seem to avoid saying it outright' _that_ managed to stop the bluenettes blustering. Instead he paused, staring at her for a few seconds in shock before breaking out into laughter.

'You mean you don't _know_? Oh gods that is _RICH_!' his mirth was beginning to grate on her nerves

'I would if you just told me.' She grumbled as his laughter dissolved into giggles

'No way' he said as he inspected the door 'I'll let her introduce herself,' he started laughing again 'oh man she had no idea what she's got herself into!' he crowed

"_Who_ doesn't know what they've gotten themselves into?" hollered Motoko, frustrated that the bluenette wouldn't tell her something as simple as the girls name. Unfortunately all her yelling made him start laughing even harder.

'nuh-huh ,' he said shaking his head and chortling 'I said I'll let her tell you and I will, although I can promise you something' he stopped speaking to her to open the door, it apparently took some effort as the hinges groaned and the door only moved grudgingly. When it was open he paused to catch is breath before he directed her to the black nothingness on the other side 'If you want to go back to where you belong and find out what is going on, you better step though here'

'I'll find out her name if I step into a void? Isn't that a little unfair?'

'Yep!' he answered cheerfully 'I'm too lazy to go with you the rest of the way, not that it would change that much anyway, all you have to do is step inside and you'll return to your real body where my nameless friend waits to answer all your questions' a smug came across his face as he bent down into a challenge 'unless of course your scared?'

Motoko glared at M arcus, not even seeing fit do dignify his challenge with a verbal response she lifted her head in defiance and stepped into the mist-like darkness beyond the door, feeling her mind being overcome by the void around her she vowed to herself that the next time she saw the lanky wolf-boy, he'd be reduced to a pile of blood and gore.

* * *

'She doesn't seem too bad' said Marcus as he closed the door. 'a bit of a temper and some self-esteem issues, but all in all more sane than the rest of us when we were her age' he turned around to face a blond young man who seemed to be around the same height and age as Marcus 'don't you agree Joel?'

'Cant you just pretend that you don't know when I'm sneaking up on you?' said the blonde as he started following his friend out the door.

'And spoil the fun of it all? No thankyou, anyway you haven't answered the question yet. What do you think of her?'

'Me? I think she's a pretty interesting kid; she'll fit in pretty well after everyone forgets that she tried to stab our best friend'

'That might be kinda hard; Caryen wants to leave her for a pack of sharks to devour.'

'Kara's kinda pissed too. 'Says that her technique is an insult to swordsmanship and that that _alone_ is reason enough to disembowel her' Marcus sighed hearing the news

'I guess the best solution is to distract our girlfriends until the new girl learns how to defend herself against our lady-friends.'

'Heres hoping we can pull it off.' Said Joel as he disappeared; presumably to placate his irate girlfriend.

Marcus continued walking through the mindscape wandering through the hallways of his "nameless" friends mind until he came to a painting. It was a favourite of his, showing a young girl reading a book that was at least five centimetres thick. The look in her eyes was that of awed wonder, Marcus remembered that it was one of her favourites "the Rivan Codex" by David and Leigh Eddings. He remembered. It was a combination of loneliness, that book, and a dream that had allowed himself and his friends to link their minds to the small brunette. Now, after so many years without any new people being included in their rather special friendship circle, this girl appeared. Motoko Aoyama. She had barely been linked for three hours and she was already shaking things up.

'_I hope this all works out for the best_' he thought to the picture '_because if it doesn't, if that Aoyama girl hurts you, for any reason… you might never heal this time_' Marcus sighed one last time before he too disappeared. He had a lot of work to do if he was to see any harmony between his friends and the new girl.

* * *

Hey wow that's a long chapter! Are you confused yet? Don't worry; it only gets worse from here! I'll probably be spending forever trying to explain everything. Ah well, it's my fault for trying to insert my Australian psychic-dyslexic mutant into the Love Hina storyline. 

Sorry if it took too long but I usually only write when I'm suffering from insomnia so this whole writing while feeling sane thing is kinda weird for me at the moment, thanks for the reviews so far its nice to know that people are actually reading this.

I'll see you all later!


	4. a dawning friendship

For the love of dreams

Chapter 4: A dawning friendship

By: Kara

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Motoko woke up being jostled around in someone's arms, her muscles were weak and aching as exhaustion was washing through her in waves. For quite awhile she couldn't open her eyes… They were just too heavy, eventually curiosity overcame her fatigue and she managed to tear her eyes open to look at whoever was carrying her. Whatever she expected it wasn't the blurry image of the cat-daemon looking down at her.

Groggily she struck out at the daemon, forcing it to drop her as it tried to protect its face. Tumbling out of the daemons grip Motoko managed to gain her footing before she suffered an embarrassing fall that would have probably left her open to attack. The beast had backed away from her, its arms out as if to placate her. Peering through the fog her mind was putting out Motoko could just see the hole that her sword had left in the daemon's overly purple shirt. The blood had left a disturbingly large stain that covered most of the daemon's shirt and also extended towards its pants. Motoko could also see bloodstains on the beast's paws.

Thinking that the monster had attacked her in her sleep Motoko fought down a flood of dizziness and nausea to lash out at the aberration only to have her attack caught and to be held down to the ground with the daemon straddling her. She tried to break free again, but the daemon's grip was too tight. Not that it mattered anyway, she just couldn't summon the strength to fight it. Seeing her lack of strength as submission the daemon relaxed its hold on her so it could inspect her. Taking advantage of the daemons laxity Motoko managed to smash her knee in the creature's nether-regions causing it to scream and let go of her as it rolled away in agony.

'Damn your psychotic, I'm just trying to help!' the daemon bellowed in obvious pain 'you do know your running on empty right? That you used so much of your Ki just trying to get me that you didn't leave enough for basic bodily functions?' Motoko ignored the daemon as she fought back the fog in her head. 'You really need you're rest, after you've had a good night's sleep and a meal you can go back to daemon-hunting.' The daemon slowly rose to get closer to Motoko 'Right now... You need to get some sleep.' It was now cautiously standing over her, talking on a soft insistent tone of voice that seemed so contrary to its brutish appearance. It reached down to her, whether to help her up or force her back down Motoko couldn't tell 'Relax… I'm not going to hurt you' taking its words as a challenge Motoko rose to confront the monster… only to have the fog finally envelope her once again, her ears roaring as she fell into the inky darkness.

Her last memory was of the daemon catching her before she hit the ground.

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This time she woke up lying on the ground surrounded by the chirping of crickets and covered in leaves. She was no longer exhausted, instead she felt quite refreshed, as the cold night air on her cheeks helped to wake her. Opening her eyes she saw the daemon sitting a small distance away from her. It was staring at its paws, flexing its fingers, sheathing and unsheathing its claws and tracing its pads with its finger. If it were human Motoko would have assumed it was inebriated, in the daemons case she had no idea why it was acting the way it was, only that it was too distracted to notice her escape. Slowly she brushed the leaves that had been piled on her away so that she could sit up without any hindrances. When she was done however she noticed that the daemon was looking straight at her.

'Morning, what are you doing?' it asked her curiously, freaked Motoko scurried away from the monster.

'oh come on!' it shouted in frustration 'I am despite what you think I'm _not_ going to hurt you' it pointed to the horizon, it was pale with the light of the sun hidden behind it. 'that's _dawn_ coming! you've been unconscious and thus vulnerable in my presence for more than eight hours and as you can see, your still quite healthy.' it crossed its arms across its ample chest obviously in a huff 'now that we have that sorted out are you going to try to kill me again?'

'I don't have my sword. Even if I wanted to I couldn't' She said as if that would answer its question, the creature nodded as if it agreed with the banal statement, still obviously irritated.  
'One of my friends took it when we were both unconscious, she thought that if you had the chance you'd just try to stab me again.' The way the monster referred to a faceless friend reminded Motoko of the strange girl from the dream she had when she had first lost consciousness.

'One of your friends?' she asked trying to confirm who the daemon was talking about.  
'Yeah, you haven't met her yet. She's dating Marcus's best friend.' The image of a fiery giant wolf crossed Motoko's mind.  
'_Marcus?_ As in the wolf-boy from my dreams?'  
'If you're going to be like that I could point at you and scream "_Motoko Aoyama? As in the chibi-girl from my dreams?_" I'm just as entitled to be shocked by this situation as you' the daemon stated slightly miffed.

'How do you know my name? I have no idea who, or even _what_ you are, but you seem to know who I am with no introduction!' her question seemed to disturb the daemon, its ears pulled pack and its face fell in a manner that clearly illustrated depression.  
'You don't know who I am?' Motoko raised an eyebrow at the daemon.  
'Should I?' asked Motoko tartly  
'Marcus didn't tell you?' the daemon's voice was soft, it sounded betrayed somehow  
'He actually took a perverse sort of pleasure out of knowing that I had no idea what was going on.' grumbled Motoko causing the daemon to giggle slightly.

'Clever, I wouldn't let him punish you in the traditional way so he messed with your head instead.' The daemon shook its head and stood up 'but you don't want to hear about my dysfunctional friends you want an introduction' it walked over and extended a hand down to Motoko its ears sat at a jaunty angle

'My name is Tamala Beer… it is an unexpected pleasure to meet you' Motoko stared at the creature's outstretched hand for a moment before deciding to take it, nearly pulling the Daemon down with her.

After regaining her footing Motoko took a few moments to stare at the creature. Its fur looked thick and soft, a light milk-coffee colour with chocolate coloured stripes that grew into a chocolate mane, its eyes were large and a pale shade of green. For some reason it seemed, embarrassed …  
'You weren't meant to pull like that' said the d… Tamala 'It was meant to be a handshake.'  
'I'm… sorry?'

'No need to apologise! But I'd actually feel better if you stepped back a bit.' Said Tamala 'You're kinda in my personal space' embarrassed, Motoko quickly shuffled away. Neither of them spoke, they were both too disturbed by the whole scenario to really communicate. Five minutes or so passed before Motoko gathered enough courage to ask the strange cat-creature a simple question.

'You're the girl from my dream aren't you?' Motoko couldn't believe that she had to ask, but she still wasn't sure.  
'It really isn't that easy to tell is it?' Tamala sighed obviously depressed again.  
'How does that work?' asked Motoko confused 'you said in the dream that you looked like how… you saw yourself. How can you see yourself as a human when you like, like… _that_?' the creature was obviously hurt by Motoko's harsh words

'You make it sound like I'm a leper.' Grumbled the hurt cat-creature, the young swords-mistress flinched, she hadn't _meant_ for her words to be so caustic, it just came out.  
'I'm sorry, I didn't me-' the catgirl cut her off with a wave of her paw.  
'I wasn't always like this… yesterday I was human, but now… I'm this'  
'I'm sorry' said Motoko, the catgirl laughed bitterly for a second before replying.  
'don't worry about it, I'm sure you didn't do it on purpose'  
'_are you implying that _I'm_ responsible for your freaky cat transformation?_'

'exactly' replied Tamala 'this is the first time that I've created a mental link with someone and end up being pulled into their respective universe, that and you stabbing me in the gut didn't help.' as usual the catgirls answer only worked to make Motoko even more confused.  
'that doesn't make any sense! Wait… I thought you forgave me for stabbing you?'

'I do.' said Tamala calmly. 'But the fact remains that my being stabbed caused me to change even further into this, so even if it isn't your fault that I started changing in the first place (which I highly doubt by the way) the blame still lays on you for at least some of my condition.' Motoko could feel a migraine coming on. Trying to calm herself for a few seconds, she sat down and held her head in her hands. After a few moments she tried asking something else.  
'how did stabbing you make you change further? You don't look that different from when I was chasing you.' she asked rubbing her left temple.

'its not that easy to tell really, my hands have been changed to paws and my feet are all wrong' answered Tamala raising one of the legs of her pants to show how her legs were now jointed. 'see? They're like a cats now, they were human before when you were chasing me. Now my balance is all weird.' she looked down at her tail. 'not that _this_ thing didn't mess it up anyway.'

burying her head in her hands Motoko groaned.  
'this is too much!'

'would you like me to leave you by yourself? A couple of hours to think helped me sort out most of my problems so far.' asked Tamala, trying to be helpful.  
'how will that help? I have some sort of alien-daemon-girl standing in front of me that doesn't make any sense! How can I think about something I don't understand?'  
'how about I try explaining myself to you?' asked the catgirl.

'your explanations give me headaches and raise more questions than they answer, I doubt they would be any good to me'

'that's not vary fair.' replied Tamala 'you haven't asked me anything basic yet, you seem to be going for the questions that need a lot of other questions to be answered first.' Motoko sighed,  
'vary well' she conceded 'I'll try asking you the basics and we'll work from there' the catgirl clapped her hands in excitement and sat cross-legged in front of Motoko seemingly ready to answer anything Motoko threw at her.

Thinking for a second Motoko tried to come up with a question that wasn't to loaded. She had a feeling that any answer that was longer than a couple of syllables would only confuse her more.

'So what are you? An alien? A monster?'

' a mutant-alien actually'

Apparently she had been wrong…

'Could you please explain that?'

'I'm from an alternate version of earth' answered Tamala 'one where marvels walk among men. gods and aliens battle with scientists and demons and vice-versa… all of these creatures for some reason have an interest in my earth.' she paused to see if Motoko understood when she was sure that she wasn't leaving her audience behind she ploughed on.

'whether it was in response to the super-beings living amongst us, or if it was the natural course of human evolution is unknown, but humans are now being born with strange and incredible powers.' once again she paused and once again she got the go ahead to continue. 'those people are called mutants since they are some sort of genetic deviation from normal humans… I'm one of them. Thus I am an alien from another dimension that is a mutated version of a human. What do you want answered next?'

'why are you here? How come you can enter my dreams?' Tamala whistled  
'those are toughies' she said 'I'll try to answer you as best I can but they're both kinda patchy to me as well…' struggling with her words for a few seconds Tamala started absentmindedly brushing her tail with her fingers, it was actually quite bushy towards the end.

'as to why I'm here I don't know' answered Tamala finally 'I don't even know how I got here… its never happened before. I'm guessing that my powers must have activated in a new way. Usually my powers work by connecting my mind with people who live in other dimensions from my own'

'how does that work?' asked Motoko starting to get confused again.

'I'm a bit of a storyteller' replied Tamala 'I like to come up with characters and worlds and play out scenarios in my head. I've been doing it since I was a little kid… when I was about 12 one of the characters that I made up seemed to talk to me. At first I thought it was my daydreaming, but then he started to talk to me more often when I wasn't daydreaming… thought I was going crazy…people who are not really there talking to me and all…' Tamala paused, her head lost in he memories. Eventually Motoko had to clear her throat in order to bring the cat-girl back to reality.

'oh! Sorry! Where was I?' even though she was now talking to Motoko again she wouldn't look at her for some reason

'you thought you were going crazy because you were hearing voices,' answered Motoko patiently,  
'and seeing people who weren't there too.. I thought I was schizophrenic! But a couple of years ago my brother and I were fighting and something happened' she paused swallowing visibly. 'he had me in a chokehold… a really good one. I couldn't breathe or anything.' she looked Motoko directly in the eyes. Her gaze was unsettlingly intense, her feline eyes boring onto her own… 'it was when I started to black out that something happened… one of my friends had a temper and didn't like the way the fight was going… he came through somehow and put my brother in hospital.' Motoko gasped

'what did your friend do to him?' asked Motoko, a little horrified that the girl spoke so calmly of one of her family members getting hurt.

'broke his collarbone and smashed a couple of ribs the doctors said that he had a pretty bad concussion when he came in as well' answered Tamala. 'I cant say what happened I passed out when I saw my friend come though some sort of vortex, everything I learned came second hand since I was stuck in hospital for observation for a week or so after I came too… my family forgave me when they heard how the injuries happened and my brother said that there were no hard feelings'

'You summoned someone out of nowhere to beat the living crap out of him, I'd be a bit more petty than to forgive you.'  
'the summoning was an accident… it only happened 'cause I seemed to be in mortal peril and my friend was willing enough to help me, those sorts of things usually happen to people like me… anyway he just saw it as a comeback, I had walloped him pretty good before he started choking me.'

Motoko stared at the cat-girl in disbelief

'why do I feel that yours is an interesting home life?'  
'cause it is?' answered the catgirl 'anyway everything has been has been going kinda smoothly for the last couple of years.. I managed to get the hang of my summoning ability, and with no knew people walking into my head I thought that my powers were dying down or something… and then this happened'

'and you blame me for you coming here? From what you just said it was the fault of your powers not mine' asked Motoko

'you have to remember… my friend only got pulled to my world because he really wanted to come to me physically… I'm guessing that you wanted for me to come to you when I got pulled into this world.' answered Tamala logically

Motoko was about to refuse loudly when she remembered her trying to summon the "spirit" to her, it was vary possible that she may have accidentally thought about bringing the annoyance to her physically when she made her offer of welcome… which would mean that she was, in some small part… responsible for this girls situation.

'what about yourself?' Motoko asked hoping to find some way to shift the guilt from her shoulders. 'you had to be thinking about me to form this link did you not?' her question for some reason made Tamala shift in embarrassment.  
'well I cant answer that honestly… I was asleep at the time…' her confession mad Motoko gasp in shock  
'you were dreaming about me?' the whole idea of someone dreaming about her made Motoko a little frightened.  
'I guess… it makes sense tho.. You are my favourite character in the show…' Motoko didn't like the sound of that.

'favourite character of _what_ show?' asked Motoko, a definite hint of venom in her voice. Tamala recoiled slightly in fear from the irate swordsmaster.

'Its nothing that big really… you're a secondary character in a popular Japanese cartoon is all…' answered the catgirl, visibly sweating.  
'what kind of show?' asked Motoko her rage still simmering.  
'ehh… a comedy? Centred around Keitaro?' Tamala was starting to edge away from Motoko now.  
'and how many people watch this show may I ask?' enquired Motoko icily.  
'enough to make it commercially viable for export?' answered Tamala fearfully, hiding her face behind her arms.  
'So most probably over a million people know about my private life then?'  
'if its any consolation they think you're a fictional character and don't know that they're spying on you' replied Tamala

'THAT'S NO EXCUSE!' raged Motoko in frustration.

'have you ever watched a television series? Ever seen a movie? Read a fictional book? If you have than your just as guilty as those faceless millions that watched a cartoon series in my world.' answered Tamala hoping to calm Motoko. It was enough to make her pause at the least.

'what about you?' asked Motoko 'you seem to get your powers from fiction shouldn't you have resisted watching that show?'

'firstly,' started the catgirl 'I watched the first episode of that show before I even summoned my friend that first time, I wasn't even sure if I had any powers or not. And secondly' she continued 'its never worked on anyone else's characters before, just the ones that I made up. I had no idea that it might work on you the way it has… Hell I didn't think it would even work at all…' finished Tamala… seemingly trying to convince that her actions were pure.  
'are you going to hate me again?' she asked Motoko innocently, the combination of her large feline eyes and her childish demeanour made Motoko feel vary guilty for snapping at her the way she did.

'no I'm not' sighed Motoko 'I'm just going to have to find a way for you to be comfortable here until you can find a way back to your home.' she admitted.  
'Really? Why?'  
'As you said… I'm partially responsible for you being here, it wouldn't be right for me to leave you out in the cold like this miss Tamala' Motoko answered in her most formal and calm manner. It seemed to put the catgirl off for some reason.

'there's no need to be so formal with me Motoko… you're my friend now, it would be too weird' she stood up, holding her… paw down to Motoko to help her up. Hesitantly Motoko took it.  
'how can you be so ready to declare me a friend?'  
'its a part of my powers' answered Tamala as she started to make her way to the Hinata. 'everyone who I link with automatically must be a friend… I only link to people who I like after all.'

'If… you say so…' replied Motoko unsure.  
'than it must be true!' said Tamala seemingly trying to finish her sentence in a positive note. Seeing no way to continue with that line of conversation Motoko followed her new "friend" back to the dorms. The light of the dawn illuminating their way in a golden hue. It wasn't until they were sneaking their way back inside the building that Tamala chose to speak again…

'Motoko?' asked Tamala quietly so as not to disturb the sleeping tenants and summon oestrogen-fuelled wrath upon herself. '… thankyou for your help…'

'there's no need to thank me.' said Motoko '_I still have to find a way to introduce you to the rest of the girls without them killing you after all…_' she thought to herself. She felt like she was living in a Chinese curse, these were proving to be interesting times…

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0-0 wow! Vary long chapter… don't know where it all came from . Anyways I have to get back to this sleep thing that most humans seem to do at night-time.

read, review and recommend to your friends please… the more people who read this the more I'll be motivated to update (I'm not blackmailing you people… really!)

See ya all later!


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